1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image edit device for laying out a plurality of image data.
2. Related Background Art
An album that binds, in the form of a file, mounts on each of which photograph prints printed on silver halide photographic paper sheets are laid out is a conventional filing form of photographs for appreciation later on. However, such method of using photographs exerts a heavy load on the user, and a new filing method for future appreciation purposes is desired.
Since the cost of color photographs has lowered very much with recent technical advances, and everyone can easily take photographs with high image quality owing to greatly improved camera performance, the amount of photographs taken by general users is increasing largely. In particular, the service for developing a film and simultaneously forming prints of all the frames in a standard size is often used since it can be easily automated and a cost reduction can be attained. As a consequence, general users have a large number of non-filed photograph prints. Since it is cumbersome to lay out and adhere photograph prints on mounts, and to add required comments, it is often the case that the number of non-filed prints becomes too large to file as the amount of photographs taken increases. In fact, for average users, before prints previously printed by a photo processing shop are filed, photographing of all the frames of the next film is finished, and non-filed prints are piled up. Since the memories of the photographing situations of photographs are lost several years after, such non-filed photographs lose their significance as important records of one's life.
In other words, the photographic technical innovation has made great progress in terms of taking, developing, and printing photographs, but has made little progress in terms of appreciating, filing, and preserving them. Since the significance of photographs is to be able to preserve high-quality images for a long period of time, the current technical imbalance necessitates a heavy load on users.
As an effective means for solving such problems, a silver halide printer that prints a series of photograph images in the layout state is proposed by, e.g., Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 60-35723. This patent application discloses a silver halide printer characterized by comprising designation means such as a print magnification designation means, direction change designation means, print frame designation means, and the like, a two-dimensional moving means of a print system, and a character printing means. The object of this printer is to print a plurality of photograph images on a relatively large (e.g., A4 size) photographic paper sheet in the layout state. The operation principle of this printer is as follows.
Before exposure onto the photographic paper, the presence/absence of printing of frames on a film, the print positions, the print sizes, and the contents and positions of comments to be inserted are input to a control computer. The developed film is fed frame by frame, and images are printed while controlling their sizes and positions according to the designations in units of frames by varying the optical system and the mechanical system of the print system with reference to the pre-input print control data in units of frames.
As a non-silver halide technique, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 3-274047 is known. According to this patent application, when a plurality of frames are to be arranged using digital image data of photographs and to be output to a print device, and such photographs include those having the vertically elongated composition, the user can select one of a plurality of appropriate layouts prepared in advance in correspondence with the number of such photographs.
However, such conventional techniques leave some basic problems unsolved, and it is not a common practice to appreciate and preserve photographs in the output form that includes a plurality of photographs in the layout state.
First, the contents that require complicated operations such as layout/edit operations are not suitable for silver halide processing. The automated processes of the standard-size service have greatly contributed to the current low cost and large consumption amount of photographs. Optimal processing for the layout/edit operations is determined depending on the contents of photographs to be processed, and the user's intention must be reflected by inserting comments, setting the magnifications of frames, and so on. When such operations are to be realized using the silver halide system by controlling the mechanical system and the optical system, a very complicated device and an operator skilled in operations are required and, hence, it is difficult to realize such system at sufficiently low cost that general photograph users can use one. Such use methods of photographs can assume general practical use only on the premises that digital image data, a digital image processing technique, and a digital control printer are used. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 3-274047 above basically complies with such arrangement, but lacks many important factors required for realizing practical use.
In this way, the first objective of the present invention is to provide the basic arrangement that can realize the above-mentioned photograph output method.
Second, according to the examinations of the present inventors, solutions for the following conflicting problems need to be provided to realize general use of the layout of personal photographs. More specifically, the layout method is not suitable for automatic processing since the way of layout largely depends on the contents of photographs and the user's favor, and must be individually processed. On the other hand, a low-cost method is required to attain the photograph output format that can be used personally. The cost includes the prime cost of mechanical equipment, expendables, and the like, and the personnel expenses of expert operators who can meet individual needs. The latter cost is large particularly in the conventional methods disclosed so far, and the techniques have not reached a practical use level yet.
On the other hand, the following method is known. As shown in FIG. 38, a plurality of frames 1 to 5 are laid out within a printable area 6 of a paper sheet 7, and photographs are assigned to these frames, so that a plurality of photographs can be laid out on a single paper sheet, thus obtaining an attractive print. However, when this method is applied to conventional silver halide photograph prints, a high-grade technique is required to print a plurality of photographed frames onto a single photographic paper sheet, and such application is difficult to attain.
Nowadays, along with the development of the digital image processing technique and its peripheral devices, photographs are converted into digital data, and the digital data are subjected to layout processing on the computer screen. Thereafter, these digital data are printed out using a color printer, thus easily obtaining the above-mentioned print.
In order to provide a service for printing a plurality of photographed frames on a single paper sheet using such digital processing, the following procedure may be used.
1) A plurality of pieces of layout information (to be referred to as templates hereinafter) in each of which the positions and sizes of a plurality of photographs are registered and prepared in advance so as to facilitate order reception.
2) The user selects a desired template, and designates photographed frames to be assigned to the frames of the selected template.
3) In the development laboratory, a printer lays out and prints out the photographs on the basis of the selected template.
As described above, a plurality of layout patterns called templates are prepared in advance, and after a desired template is selected, photographs are assigned to the frames of the template, thus allowing easy layout of the photographs.
However, photographed frames have length (vertical) and breadth (horizontal) positions, and photographs taken recently have not only a normal 35-mm photographic film size, i.e., a length/breadth ratio (to be referred to as an aspect ratio hereinafter) of 3 (breadth):2 (length) (36 mm:24 mm), but also have a so-called panorama size, hi-vision size, and the like, i.e., are trimmed to 3 (breadth):1 (length) (36 mm:12 mm) and 16 (breadth):9 (length) (36 mm:20 mm).
Therefore, when a photograph having an aspect ratio different from that set by the template is assigned to a predetermined frame in the layout print service, an unwanted blank area is formed, or layout imbalance occurs, resulting in an unattractive print.
A photograph having, e.g., the panorama size is normally magnified to twice the normal magnifying ratio to obtain a wide print. When a photograph having the panorama size is assigned to a frame, the magnifying ratio is increased to be larger than the normal one, and the magnified photograph is assigned. In such case, not only layout imbalance occurs, but also the photograph may extend beyond the printable area of the paper sheet.
Also, when a photograph taken at the length position is assigned to a frame for a photograph taken at the breadth position, it may extend beyond the printable area of the paper sheet.
In view of the above problems, templates corresponding to different combinations of photographs of every aspect ratios may be prepared. However, the number of combined patterns becomes huge, and it is troublesome to select an appropriate template from them.